Damaris Lewis

Damaris Lewis (born October 10, 1990) is an American model and actress. She appeared in the 2009, 2010, and 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issues.[1] In 2018, she acted in the film BlacKkKlansman.

Damaris Lewis
Born (1990-10-10) October 10, 1990
Brooklyn, New York
Modeling information
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Hair colorBrown
Eye colorBrown
AgencyMuse Model Management (New York)

Early life

Lewis was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents are West Indian from the island of St. Kitts. She studied with a conservatory-style arts concentration in dance at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.[2]

Lewis was discovered while performing with her childhood dance company, Restoration Dance Theater at Chelsea Piers. She waited until her second year of high school to sign a contract with Elite Model Management.[3][4]

Career

Modelling

Lewis has appeared in campaigns for Black/Up, Clarins, MAC Cosmetics, L'Oréal, and Yves Saint Laurent. She has done editorial shoots for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2009, 2010, 2011; Essence, French Marie Claire, Self, Cosmopolitan, and GQ.

Nick Jonas and Modelinia selected her to do a three-day, feature-style interview video set. This platform exposed her to a wider audience.[5]

Film and television

Lewis appeared briefly in the 2011 movie Limitless, dancing in a club scene with Bradley Cooper.[6] She also appeared in Spike Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman as Odetta.[7]

She hosted a special presentation for The Africa Channel titled Prince! Behind The Symbol: Music Special, during his Welcome 2 America - 21 Night Stand at the Los Angeles Forum.[8]

Lewis starred in the promo video that kicked off the 2013 NBA All-Star Game played in Houston, Texas. She went on to co-host NBA Style for TNT and NBA TV with Turner Broadcasting for three years. In 2016, Lewis co-hosted ESPN's City Slam Dunk Competition.

In 2019, Lewis played Jazmine Wintour, a member of the House of Wintour, on the FX channel series Pose. The same year she played the character Blackfire in season two of the DC Universe series Titans, and was later promoted to series regular for season three.[9]

Dance

Musician Prince hired her as a dancer for his Welcome 2 Australia Tour 2012 with The New Power Generation. Lewis continuing touring with Prince & NPG for his 2012 Welcome to Chicago Tour, appeared with the band on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and served as his muse for his closing show at SXSW 2013 in Austin, Texas. In the summer of 2013, Lewis traveled to Switzerland to perform with Prince's band at the Montreux Jazz Festival. She remained in his employ as a dancer until his passing in April 2016.

Personal life

She maintains a blog, Golden Lenses Photo, dedicated to travel experiences and photography.

Lewis launched a personal blog, Heels to Hoops, just before the 2012 NBA Playoffs.[10] The blog featured NBA game follow-ups, interviews with celebrities and sports figures, and followed her behind-the-scenes on Australian tour dates.

Since September 2009, she has volunteered with organizations such as Project Sunshine and [11] The Garden of Dreams,[12] a nonprofit organization associated with Madison Square Garden, and Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Serving as chairwoman for The Garden of Dreams Foundation's annual prom, she has organized three proms[13] for a select number of children in the New York tri-state area since 2014. Lewis was recently inducted into the Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2011 Limitless Beautiful Woman
2013 The Tale of Timmy Two Chains Lauren Short
2014 Listen Up Philip Model #1
2014 The Rewrite Maya
2017 Brave, Visions for Moncler Unknown Short
2018 BlacKkKlansman Odetta
2019 See You Yesterday Candice
2020 Fatale Traci

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2013 Black Actress Shannon Unknown
2014 New Girl Dancer Episode: “Prince”
2016 The Jim Gaffigan Show Attractive Woman #2 Episode: “No Good Deed: Part 1”
2019 Pose Jazmine Recurring (Season 2); 5 episodes
2019 See Sheva Episode: “House of Enlightenment”
2019–present Titans Blackfire Guest (Season 2); Main (Season 3)

References
  1. https://www.si.com/swimsuit/search?term=Damaris_Lewis
  2. "Notable Alumni - Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for Music, Art, and the Performing Arts".
  3. "The Beauty Hunters". The New York Times. 2010-06-15.
  4. "Vogue Black - Damaris Lewis". Vogue.it. 2010-03-17. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
  5. "Modelinia Exclusive: Behind the Scenes with Damaris Lewis and Nick Jonas video interviews". Modelinia. 2010-01-29.
  6. "IMDB Cast List - Limitless".
  7. Wills, Cortney. "EXCLUSIVE: Laura Harrier and Damaris Lewis on their powerful roles in 'BlackKklansman'". www.thegrio.com. The Grio. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  8. "Prince! Behind The Symbol: Music Special".
  9. Mitovich, Matt Webb (December 2, 2019). "Titans Season 3: Damaris Lewis Promoted to Series Regular as Blackfire". TVLine. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  10. "Damaris Lewis' Heels To Hoops sports blog/website". fromthefeetup.ca. 2012-05-05. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2012-07-18.
  11. http://www.projectsunshine.org/volunteer/012712_volunteer_spotlight_damaris_lewis.php
  12. http://www.amny.com/entertainment/damaris-lewis-a-model-mentor-for-garden-of-dreams-talent-show-1.10549700
  13. https://www.si.com/swim-daily/2016/05/25/damaris-lewis-prom
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